Reply to: Is this an expected norm?

[ensignia]

Same here, not complaining though. You could offer to only bill for 2-3 days a week if you feel guilty; otherwise fill your boots.

I offered to do that once at a big banking client I was with. I was laughed out of the room.

Irony is since Covid, I've been double (sometimes even triple) billing multiple clients each day to fill the gaps.

[zonkkk]

Same here, not complaining though. You could offer to only bill for 2-3 days a week if you feel guilty; otherwise fill your boots.

[IsayIsayIsay]

Nice to hear that others are having the same issue. It is very frustrating to try and find things to do to keep busy. The project I am currently on has just been delayed for 3 months and nobody knows what's happening. We are trying to keep ourselves busy and I am setting up as many meetings as I can (although it's a race against them being canceled) and analysing as much as I can, but there's only so much you can do.

I guess NLUK is right in that you could always look for another contract. Or just learn some stuff or read or watch or... whatever works for you. But yes, it's not unusual.

Yeah, it's a weird thing. You end up losing motivation to try and keep busy and achieving precisely nothing, which is never good. Mine has started to ramp a little bit, but I'm not one to make things up for too long, I lose the will to live. If I've done 5 days of work since the start of December I'd be surprised, and while that sounds like a winner, it's not doing me any good mentally.

Hope things pick up for you soon. Good luck.

[kloos]

Nice to hear that others are having the same issue. It is very frustrating to try and find things to do to keep busy. The project I am currently on has just been delayed for 3 months and nobody knows what's happening. We are trying to keep ourselves busy and I am setting up as many meetings as I can (although it's a race against them being canceled) and analysing as much as I can, but there's only so much you can do.

I guess NLUK is right in that you could always look for another contract. Or just learn some stuff or read or watch or... whatever works for you. But yes, it's not unusual.

[Fraidycat]

Having little or no work to do sucks if you are high in the 'Conscientiousness' personality trait.

But if you are a slacker, who doesn't feel guilty when they don't do much work anyway, you will love these type of contracts.

[IsayIsayIsay]

I'd not thought of it in that context. I guess it's a case of not trying to understand the logic, accepting what is in fact an opportunity and trying to relax that I don't need to be busy all of the time. The budget spending in particular resonates with me knowing my leadership chain...

[lecyclist]

Yes, it's normal.

In my experience, the more senior you get and the least you are expected to work.

THIS. Enjoy while you can.

I've worked in senior technical roles on ridiculous daily rates, doing basically nothing for months on end, essentially an SME hired as an insurance policy. Or just to spend budget.

This is not an unusual experience for anyone competent working in IT for over 10 years.

The likelihood is that those people are underrepresented/ silent in forum discussions, as there is no need to boast about what is essentially good fortune and success, that often arises independent of any exceptional talent.

[northernladuk]

Create a spreadsheet.
Record the amount of time you spend/waste on the internet compared to the amount of time working.
Do this daily with a calculation to let you see how much your client pays for you to be on Facebook, Twitter, CUK, YouTube, etc.

Also go onto Twitter/Youtube and use the right hand bar. See how far down a rabbit warren you can go with YouTube, or by choosing one of the hot topics that isn't an advert, see how far down Twitter you need to scroll before finding an opinion contrary to yours.

Or go on linkedin, pick any recruitment agent and on the list of all the 20 something glamour pusses on the 'recently viewed' list on the right and see how many you can click before a male one pops up in the list. That will keep you going a VERY long time.

[WTFH]

Create a spreadsheet.
Record the amount of time you spend/waste on the internet compared to the amount of time working.
Do this daily with a calculation to let you see how much your client pays for you to be on Facebook, Twitter, CUK, YouTube, etc.

Also go onto Twitter/Youtube and use the right hand bar. See how far down a rabbit warren you can go with YouTube, or by choosing one of the hot topics that isn't an advert, see how far down Twitter you need to scroll before finding an opinion contrary to yours.

[IsayIsayIsay]

Haha, thanks! I'm going to teach myself ITIL V4 next week from YouTube, maybe a bit of Agile, DevOps or some other framework to wrap around 20 years of doing it anyway... the problem with getting older, you see patterns repeating!

[PCTNN]

Yes, it's normal.

It's happened to me in contract roles and in permie roles as well.

In my experience, the more senior you get and the least you are expected to work. In almost all my roles I was being kept warm and I was there to do the job "in case they needed me". Some weeks they needed me more than others, but yeah, I watched a lot of youtube videos in my contractor's life

Feels a bit weird at the beginning, but you get used to it.

[IsayIsayIsay]

I think that's where I am... just had a meeting with manager, told me next project will kick off at the end of next week... basically chill, then we'll have more work. Perhaps I need more patience, but I'm also acutely aware (as a contractor) that I need to secure my next role and to be dispassionate about my decisions.

[Paralytic]

If i were in this position, I'd find it fairly easy to convince myself that the client was paying me a retainer for being available to work with no notice, and then use the time they don't need to do something more productive, be that self-training, going for a run or watching A Place In The Sun.

[IsayIsayIsay]

Great advice, thanks. Work outside of my original remit/contract is starting to slip in (again, it's a balance of saying no and leaving now and having nowhere to go vs. smiling, accepting and looking in the meantime). I've got a couple of strong leads/interviews on the go, but will take the advice of staying put while I can until I have somewhere to move to quickly.

[malvolio]

Naïve I know, but what's inside OP? I'm with you totally. I've been bored for a few weeks now and thinking about bringing it to a head. It feels counterintuitive when you're being paid for doing nothing, but for similar reasons, I came to contracting to be busy, use my skills and grow, not to leech of a company for weeks, it doesn't feel good...

Thanks for the advice!

Might not feel good - and I sympathise with you on that - but it's what you are there to do. Being dispassionate about it, you are there to earn while you can either for yourself if inside IR35 or for YourCo if outside (and not umbrellerising). In fact, in the latter case you are required to do that; as a director of the company yo uhave a legl duty to maximise your shareholders dividends.

The decision is difficult, but leave only if you have somewhere to go quickly becuase a couple of months off looking for new work might be expensive. To achieve that, you have to be on the market now and following up opportunities as they arise. Beyond your notice period - always negotiable, especially if you aren't doing anything - you have to be able to move pretty much immediately.

The other parameter is when is the promised new work likely to appear. If it's less than a month, give this is quiet time on all fronts, it might be more cost effective to hang on a while longer. But keep looking anyway.

And don't do work that isn't in your contract. Although I'm sure you know that already...